Absorbent devices such as dressings and hygienic devices conventionally employ a water permeable film for their body contacting surface to act as a barrier between the body surface and the absorbent. A wound contacting layer, for example, for use in a dressing should also be conformable, non-adherent to the wound and to act as a means of preventing the healing wound incorporating the absorbent material into regenerating surface. One successful non-adherent absorbent wound dressing comprises a hydrophilic polyurethane foam bonded to a wound contacting layer comprising an elastomeric separator layer which is the polymer net.
Those prior art dressings may be made by casting the net in a mold and then casting the foam on top of the net. This process involves many steps, expensive raw materials and imperfections in the mold may cause uneven net strand thickness and prevent clean release of the net from the mold. A further disadvantage is that the surface of the absorbent between the strands may be very close to the surface of the dressing hence presenting an opportunity for the absorbent to become incorporated in the healing wound or for the dressing to be more adherent than desirable under some circumstances.